Quality in Academic Writing

All online academic paper writing companies (without exemption) promise to offer custom essays, research papers, etc, that are of the highest quality. We can get into reasons why many do not live up to expectations but let’s focus on what real quality academic writing is all about so that we can spot a con a mile away before getting ripped off.

The question that needs to be asked therefore is: can the quality of an academic paper be determined before you get that failing grade? What should you look for when you receive your paper from the paper writing service of choice?

While the checklist below does not guarantee you a passing grade, it gives you a very accurate idea of whether you are getting your money’s worth. If you weigh your paper against it and find that it deviates widely from the checklist, chances are that your paper is poorly written, rushed and not well thought.

Following tutor’s instructions. All writing guides in the world are not a substitute for your tutor/lecturer’s instructions. Your paper should strictly seek to fulfill all the requirements handed over by the examining authority. If a grading rubric is provided then care should be taken to follow it to the letter.

Organization and structure: The paper you present should be neat as this would appeal to the reader’s eye. Basically most academic papers are structured in a similar manner. The most common structure for essays and term papers is

Coherence: The most important aspect of the body of any paper is clarity of ideas (coherence) and smooth transition from one idea to the next. Poor quality papers are incoherent and difficult to read

Paragraphs that support the central argument: Another sign of a quality paper is that the body paragraphs support the thesis statement one after the other. Paragraphs that have a vague relationship with the main argument of the paper are an indication of poor quality

In text citations and referencing: It is paramount to give credit to the sources you use in your paper. Whether you quote any author word by word or just paraphrase an idea from other literary works, you are required to document your sources within the body of your text (in text citation ) and include full citation at the end of your text. There are different styles of documenting sources such as APA, MLA and Chicago/Turabian among others. A good quality paper will adhere strictly to the chosen formatting guide. Inconsistencies when documenting sources are a sign of a poorly written paper. Similarly, when listing down the sources at the end of the paper, this should be done

according to the particular formatting style. Additionally the full bibliographic information should be presented whenever possible.

Grammar and language: Poor grammar and incorrect use of language is a major giveaway in academic paper writing. Typos and run-on sentences will ruin even the most well researched paper. Other tutors and professors will give a failing grade to papers characterized by poor grammar run-on sentences and typos. These indicate lack of thoroughness. As such, papers should be proofread carefully and all sentences that make no sense or are difficult to read rewritten.

Conclusion: It is easy to give the least attention to your conclusion. However your conclusion is meant to tie everything together in support of your main argument or thesis statement. Here you can call for action and give recommendation if appropriate. You may also open room for more research in the same times. A conclusion is not supposed to merely be a summary of your body. Neither are you to introduce anything new that has not been covered in your text

Credibility of sources: The sources you use in writing your paper will say a lot about the quality of your research. It is important to use authority sources. Newspapers, magazines and some historical books, government and organizational websites are good primary sources while journals, books are good secondary sources. It is prudent to use a mixture of primary and secondary sources as well as variety of these. Online sources

whose academic authority cannot be ascertained such as Wikipedia, answers.com and other article mills should be avoided.

Among our list of vices, plagiarism requires special attention. Plagiarism is unauthorized or improper use of other people’s work in your paper. Plagiarism can be intentional (where the writer is just trying to be cheeky) or unintentional (the most common form). In academia, plagiarism is a serious offence that has ethics as its key component and depending on your institution’s policy on plagiarism; this offence can have serious consequences including expulsion from college. That’s the bad news; the good news is that plagiarism can easily be avoided. With the advent of internet, literacy materials have become very readily available. This is a good thing but has unfortunately been abused thus increasing incidences of plagiarism in academia. There are numerous affective tools in use today to check for plagiarism in submitted work. Here are a few tips to help you avoid plagiarism in your paper:

Be original: In research the goal is not for you to repeat and reorganize what has been done before. Instead you are expected to shed some new light on your chosen topic. You use other people to help in the thought process as well as to support your assertions. Otherwise try to approach your topic with an open and independent mind.

Paraphrase: use your own words to explain somebody’s ideas. You are still required to give credit to this source.